Sweet Potato Bars with a Raw Ginger Crust

Sweet Potato Bars made with a delicious easy to make raw ginger crust. The perfect vegan snack for when you need something delicious.

And then it happened…

I became old, or should I say that I became my parents or possibly even the updated trendier (is that a word?) version of my parents.

Let me explain. My parents love listening to talk radio. I never understood the purpose of talk radio except that it was a great way to put me to sleep. To say that talk radio was boring to me would be a total understatement. To me the radio was meant for one thing and one thing only and that was to listen to music.

So to say that long car rides with my parents were not a total joy would be me being completely honest with you.

But then 2015 happened and I started enjoying the updated version of talk radio….podcasts. At first it was simple enough, a friend recommended I check out a podcast that she had been listening to on her weekly work commutes and so I decided to give it a try. One podcast turned into 3 and then I was rotating between 6 different subscriptions depending on my mood.

Now I am guilty of listening to podcasts at home and ignoring my television, which isn’t totally a bad thing especially since it is getting closer to summer and more television shows are on break anyway. One of my favorite podcast that I am totally enjoying and somewhat addicted to listening to is Serial which is a podcast from the creators of This American Life, and is hosted by Sarah Koenig.

On January 13, 1999, a girl named Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, disappeared. A month later, her body turned up in a city park. She’d been strangled. Her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested for the crime, and within a year, he was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The case against him was largely based on the story of one witness, Adnan’s friend Jay, who testified that he helped Adnan bury Hae’s body. But Adnan has always maintained he had nothing to do with Hae’s death. Some people believe he’s telling the truth. Many others don’t.

Sarah Koenig, who hosts Serial, first learned about this case more than a year ago. In the months since, she’s been sorting through box after box (after box) of legal documents and investigators’ notes, listening to trial testimony and police interrogations, and talking to everyone she can find who remembers what happened between Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee fifteen years ago. What she realized is that the trial covered up a far more complicated story, which neither the jury nor the public got to hear. The high school scene, the shifting statements to police, the prejudices, the sketchy alibis, the scant forensic evidence – all of it leads back to the most basic questions: How can you know a person’s character? How can you tell what they’re capable of? In Season One of Serial, she looks for answers.

If you love suspense or mysteries, then you will really love this podcast and of course you will need a great snack while listening to it, so I made some delicious Sweet Potato Bars with a Raw Ginger Crust. This bars are so spicy, sweet, and delicious. If you decide to give them or Serial a try, please let me know in the comment section below and if you miss pockets of time because you have been listening to the entire Season 1, then don’t say that I didn’t warn you 🙂

Place the crust ingredients in the food processor and blend until well combined. Remove the lid and gather some of the crust into your hand, squeezing it to form a tight ball in your palm. If the crust crumbles, and doesn’t stick, you’ll need to blend it some more, or add another date.

Pour the crumble into the baking pan, and press it firmly to the bottom to create a tight crust. Now you can make the filling…

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Taste, and add more maple syrup if necessary. Spoon the filling into the crust and smooth down with the back of a large spoon or rubber spatula.

Place it in the refrigerator overnight, or for at least 6 hours to set. Pull the parchment paper out of the pan, and cut into squares.

Any uneaten squares can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

You know I have never listened to a pod cast but the one you describe sounds interesting, and it seems kind of romantic ( not the topic) but makes me think of the days before TV when people gathered around the radio for news and information. And those bars look like they are amaze balls!